Andy Murray’s former coach Jamie Delgado believes the Scot still has what it takes to win the top titles despite his early Wimbledon exit.
Murray came into his favourite tournament, where he has been a two-time winner, with genuine hope that he could have a deep run for the first time since his hip operation in 2019.
But he was on the wrong end of a five-set thriller with fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round, leaving him with more grand slam disappointment.
But Delgado, who was in Murray’s camp when he won his second Wimbledon crown and went to world number one in 2016, believes his former player can still target the top prizes.
“I am sure he will be devastated by that,” Delgado said of the Tsitsipas defeat.
“He had opportunities to win that match and the draw opened up a little bit and he could have had a really deep run here.
“On a surface he really likes and the history he has got here, I am sure he will be really disappointed.
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“He has been playing really well, physically he has looked really good and he is moving well. Once he gets his head around it he will be able to have a good run at some other tournaments.
“He would have ranking goals but for him it is more competing for the biggest titles rather than rankings.
“I still think he can win events and he has shown enough that he can beat someone like Tsitsipas.
“He just needs a little bit of luck to get through a match like that. He could have been in the semi-finals here, I really think that.
“Watching him now it doesn’t even look like he has anything in the hip. That has probably been a huge achievement in itself, seeing him play and move almost as good as he ever did.
“We all sometimes forget when you are watching him that he has had that injury but he has worked so hard to get himself feeling this way.”
Both Murray and his brother Jamie, who is a year older at 37, are still competing at the highest level and Delgado says it is great to see.
“They love it and so they should,” he added. “You are doing what you love, it’s your passion from a young age and they are still doing it at the highest level.
“Watching them play on Centre Court at Wimbledon you wish it was yourself doing it.
“I think they will do it for as long as they can physically and they can still compete for titles so I don’t see them stopping any time soon.”
Sabalenka defeats Collins to set up Swiatek rematch
Aryna Sabalenka defeated Danielle Collins 7-5 6-2 to set up yet another meeting with Iga Swiatek at the Italian Open.
Having defeated Collins en route to the final of the Madrid Open, which she lost to Swiatek, Sabalenka repeated the trick with a straight sets win over the American in Thursday's semi-final.
And the Belarusian's reward will be an immediate rematch with Swiatek.
The duo have met 10 times, including in Madrid earlier this month, with Swiatek winning seven times and Sabalenka claiming three victories.
This will be Sabalenka's first appearance in the Italian Open final.
She is the sixth player, along with Simona Halep (2017), Dinara Safina (2009), Serena Williams (2013), Ons Jabeur (2022), and Swiatek (2024) to have reached the final of both Madrid and Rome in the same season.
Data Debrief: Perfect record
Collins is the only player against whom Sabalenka has registered six wins without a loss in WTA events, while only against Maria Sakkari and Elise Mertens does she have more wins in her career in such events (seven each).
The final will mark the fourth meeting on clay between Swiatek and Sabalenka as world number one and two, equalling Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova for the most meetings on the surface as the WTA's top-two ranked players.
Swiatek makes it back-to-back finals with Gauff win
Iga Swiatek is through to the Italian Open final for the third time after seeing off Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-3 on Thursday.
There was little to separate the two in the opening 50 minutes as they played to 4-4 before Gauff left an opening with back-to-back double faults, and Swiatek took full advantage.
The world number one broke Gauff’s serve four times, including in the fifth game of the second set to swing the momentum firmly in her favour after one hour 48 minutes on the court.
Swiatek has now reached back-to-back WTA 1000 finals after winning the Madrid Open earlier this month and could face Aryna Sabalenka for the title once more if the Belarusian gets past Danielle Collins in the other semi-final.
Data Debrief: Unstoppable on clay
Swiatek has now won 11 consecutive matches, and registered her 10th victory over Gauff in 11 meetings between the two - she has won all four matches against the American on clay.
Since the format’s introduction in 2009, Swiatek (40 per cent, 12/30) holds the highest percentage of finals reached from WTA-1000 main draws entered. Serena Williams (36.7 per cent, 18/49) is the next best in the format's history.
Since the WTA rankings were first published in 1975, Swiatek has become only the third player to reach multiple Italian Open finals as the WTA's number one, along with Serena Williams (three) and Monica Seles (two). She will be looking for her third Italian Open title on Saturday.
Paul sees off Hurkacz in seesaw quarter-final
Tommy Paul reached the semi-final of the Italian Open after pulling through a rollercoaster clash with Hubert Hurkacz on Thursday.
The number 14 seed downed Hurkacz 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 in the quarter-final, keeping his composure during his two hours and 43 minutes on the court.
After winning the first set, Hurkacz fought back to win the second, but the American was not out of the contest yet as he clawed back from 0-2 down early in the third.
He closed out the win in a dramatic fashion, fending off six break points while letting three of his own slip, to eventually set up a semi-final against Stefanos Tsitsipas or Nicolas Jerry on Friday.
Data Debrief: Into the final four
After beating Daniil Medvedev in the previous round, Paul has now won back-to-back matches against top-10 opponents for the first time in his professional career with his victory over Hurkacz.
Paul earned his 150th tour-level win to take him through to his third Masters 1000 semi-final, as he aims to become the first American finalist in Rome since Andre Agassi in 2002.
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